Brass Cleaning - My solution

What a great idea. Tumbling leaves the case mouth slightly dimpled from all the action. After a while you'll need to debur and cut to length, so this may extend the work you already have done.

I'll be visiting the drain cleaner aisle some time soon me thinks. Thanks for the great post.
 
travellerw said:
Not sure if it would be considered unsafe to dump down the drain.
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I would think not as it is a major component in some of the drain cleaners.

How much lye are you using per batch?

I've been humming and hawing over tumblers, ultrasonics, etc. for a while now. My procrastination may have paid off. I just picked up a jug of lye at Home Hardware, and I will try this first. Thanks!
 
Love how much my girlfriend is going to hate all of these ideas. Salad spinners, spoons, pots and pans and all kinds of her #### is going to become mine for the purpose of shooting and shooting related activities. Kind of like the time my mom caught me using the turkey baster to remove some oil from my car when I put too much in.
 
the young gun said:
Love how much my girlfriend is going to hate all of these ideas. Salad spinners, spoons, pots and pans and all kinds of her s**t is going to become mine for the purpose of shooting and shooting related activities. Kind of like the time my mom caught me using the turkey baster to remove some oil from my car when I put too much in.
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Hit up kitchen stuff plus. Take her along too. Worked for me lots of new toys for me and a few for her to keep the peace.
 
travellerw said:
I use 1 tablespoon of lye per 3 liters of boiling water.

I made sure to purchase some cheapy throw away Ziplock containers. Even then, I've had to deal with the rath..
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Ha ha, I think I'll use the propane camp stove out in the shop. That should keep the peace.;)

That is good news. A 3 kg. jug should go a long ways at 1tbsp/3ltrs. I don't know what you paid, but I was a little surprised at $28.00 for 3 kg.
 
I really don't remember what I paid.. I bought it to do some testing of BioDeisel, but that was 3 years ago or so.

3kg will last a really long time for just brass.

After I bought it, I found all kinds of uses for it. Works pretty good for removing oil stains on concrete, or degreasing anything. Cleans toilets like nobody's business.
 
Very very cool.. I'm feeling a double dunk happening.. First a dunk in phosphoric acid, rinse, then a dunk in Lye solution.. Should only take a couple of minutes in each.

This seems so much better than 4 hours in a tumbler/shaker..
 
OK, where do I buy this Lye from? I googled it, and discovered that its Caustic Soda (which is what I was more familiar with, growing up), however, I've been to Cndn Tire, Rona and the local hardware store...every person I asked looked at me weird when I asked for Lye. Isn't it pronounced "Lie"?

We used to use it to clean air conditioner evaporators that were gummed up with scum. Boil water, dunk a can of Caustic Soda into pail, pour boiling water into pail, hold breath and once the fumes were done, we'd take a ladle and gingerly pour the steaming mix onto the aircon evaporator fins. Cleans it clean as a whistle!

So now...any tips on where to find this thing?
 
+1, From what I understand they are about the only people that still carry it. It is in high demand by tweakers for the manufacture of questionable pharmaceuticals. Look in the cleaning section. Large white bottle with a blue label, pure lye crystals.
 
Be very careful with this solution!! Lye or Caustic Soda [Sodium Hydroxide] is extremely corrosive to the skin, and can cause terrible chemical burns.
A weak solution is somewhat safer, but hazards do remain.
It is safe to use on brass, but much less safe for skin and flesh. I would use it, but be very careful. Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
Be very careful with this solution!! Lye or Caustic Soda [Sodium Hydroxide] is extremely corrosive to the skin, and can cause terrible chemical burns.
A weak solution is somewhat safer, but hazards do remain.
It is safe to use on brass, but much less safe for skin and flesh. I would use it, but be very careful. Eagleye.
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+1. blind you forever dangerous....,...wear eye protection.
 
Caution with drying brass in oven.
I did that once and had to scrap 100 rounds. I had the oven set as low as it could be set and the brass annealed enough to cause head expansion and primer blowouts with starting loads.
The cleaning idea sounds good, I will be giving it a try.
 
masonicshooter said:
if lye was harmful to brass, i'd assume jerry would have said so.
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Sorry, no clue as to good or bad to the alloy.

Only issue is fear of leaving any residue that may affect the powder.

Otherwise, it sounds like a very interesting process when the outside temps are hot.

I would not heat in an oven either but when it gets to 30C outside, drying is the least of my worries.

Jerry
 
Hhmm I have now oven dryed about 1500 pieces of brass and had 0 issues. I know I'm not the only one doing it as I picked it up from another forum.

200F should be way to low to affect the brass in any way. I'm pretty sure the brass is exposed to temperatures higher than that when its fired. Now that I think about it, 200F is below the boiling point of water (93.3C). No way that will harm the brass.

Although.. Someone could make a boo boo and turn the oven up higher. Then I definitely could see an issue.

Another place to find Lye is anywhere that sells soap making supplies. Large amounts of lye are used when making soap.

Yes.. The solution is very caustic and should be treated with care. With that being said, I swirled my first batch with my hand (DON'T DO THIS) as I didn't have a spoon near. I immediately rinsed after and didn't notice any irritation or burns to my skin. So the concentration is probably fairly safe (still protect your eyes). If you do get some one your skin, you can immediately neutralize it with vinegar (NOTE Watch the movie Fight Club).
 
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